Knitting machine



March 14, 1939. c. F. scHUEssLER 2,150,730

' KNITTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 29, 1957 Patented Mar. 14, 1939V PATENT' OFFICE :y

\ 7 carlF. Schnessler, chicago, lll.

January 29, 1937, Serial No. 123,074

8.Claiml.

This invention relates to ilat and circular knitting machines, and more particularly to the loop forming mechanism of these machines. For the purpose of illustration, the flat machine alone 5 will be described.

.An object of 'the invention is to provide mechanism by which some of the needles are depressed to a greater extent than others so that some of the stitches may be made loose while others are tight. Y

Another object of the invention is 'to provide mechanism by which the tightness of certain of the stitches may be controlled independently of the other stitches. Still another object is to provide improved mechanism which is easily adjustable to produce stitches of various degrees of tightness and which can be adjusted to produce a series of stitches having the same or different v degrees of tightness. Other specific objects will appear as the specication'proceeds. r An embodiment of the inventionv is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in`which- Fig, 1 is a vi'ew of my improved mechanism, the view being taken as indicated at line I-I 5 of Fig. 2, the needles being shown diagrammatically; Fig. 2, a sectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line 2 of Fig. 1;'Fig. 3, a front view taken parallel with the needle bed and showing the needle tips diagrammatically; and Fig. 4, a sectional viewthe section being taken as indicated at line 4 of.- Fig. 1.

'I'he needle bed, designated by the character A, may be of the well known type commonly used in at knitting machines.

For purposes of illustration it is here shown in vertical position, but

- ,the bed may be inclined and mounted in the machine in-any suitable position. It is provided with v'the slots I0 in which move the knitting needles. As in the ordinary construction for at knitting machines, upon the-prescribed movement of the needles in slots lli, stitches are formed and knitting takes place.

In this embodiment the needles are of Vtwo kinds. One kind, designated by the character II,

has the high butts I2; and the other kind, desigy nated by the character I Ia, has the low butts I2a. The diierence in these two kinds is 'clearly seen by a comparison of the needles shown in Figs. 2

and 4.

inside surfaces.

The cam plate I3 is slidably (c1. ca -'m 7 cured to plate I3 by means of bolts ila. The

cam I6 is of substantially triangular shape and 5I- is arranged to engage the butts of the needles on the underside to raise the needles. The cam I'l, also tlxedly secured to the cam plate, is in spaced relation to cam I5 and is adapted to engage the needle butts on their top sides when 10 the needles are in raised position. Fig. 2 shows a needle in raised position, its butt being vengaged on top and bottom by cams l'l and I8 respectively.

The cast oi cams Bare mounted on the inner I5 side 'of plate I3 adjacent the stationary cams ljust described and are in sliding engagement with `the stationary cam i1. Cams B comprise the cam I8 which ismounted directly to cam I9 by means of screws 28 -extending through in'- 20 clined slots 2l in cam I8. Cast of! cam I9 is mounted to plate I3 by means of pins 22 extending through inclined slots 23 in plate i3. For `adjusting the relative position of cams I8 and I9, I provide the rotatable member 24 which is 25 journaled in cam I9 and has, apin 25 adjacent its rim which extends into lateral slot 28 of cam I8. Member 24 extends through slot 25 to the front of the mechanism and is provided with a crank 21. Because pin 25 is eccentric with re- 30 spect to member 24, rotation of member 24 by crank 21 causes the cam I8 to be moved with respect to cam I9. 'I'he slot 28 in cam I 8, which receives pin 25, is preferably so placed that when caml I8 is moved to its lovst position rela- 35 tive to cam I9, the bottom edge 29 of cam I8 .will be ush and even with the bottom edge 30 of cam I9.

As before stated, cam I9 is adjustably mounted on plate I3, the pins 22 being slidable in in- 40 clined slots 23. On the face of plate I3 a spring 33, having its oneend secured to post 34 on plate I3, is attached at its other end to one of pins 22 and so tends to urge 'the cam members to lowered position. 45

A set screw 35, which engages post 36 on plate I3, supports member 24 on the under side, and by turning this screw the position of cam I8 and its adjacent cam I9 may be concurrently adjusted. Cams 'I8 and I9 are held against upward move- 50 ment by spring 33 and against downward movement by screw 35.

The cast oil cams B', disposed on the other side of fixed cams I6 and I'l, are constructed and mounted in a way similar to cams B, except that 55 their pins extend through slots in plate I3 which slots are inclined oppositely from slots 20. This allows cams B' to be moved along one outside edge of iixed cam I1 while cams B may be moved along the other outside edge of cam I1.

In the operation of the improved mechanism. plate I l is moved laterally, its edges sliding lin grooves I5, so that cast oi! cams B engage butts I2 and I2a of the needles. Cast oil! cam I8 isin a position to engage both butts I2 and Ila, but the cast off cam I9, being farther removed from the needles, is in aposition to engage only high butts I2. Accordingly. when the cam plate I3 is moved laterally needles II, having buttsv I2, are engaged by cam I9 and-carried to a level determined by edge Il on this cam, while needles IIa, having butts I2a, are engaged by cam I8 and carried down to a level determined by edgev 29 of this cam. Thus, all needles having high butts are carried to lower levels, and the loop extensions formed by theseneedlesare longer, which means that the stitches formed thereby are looser.

If it is desired to make the stitches alternately loose and tight, the needles may be arranged with alternately high and low butts as illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawing. In this arrangement, a needle having a low butt will be depressed by cam I8 and a, comparatively tight stitch formed, and the succeeding needle, having a high butt, will be engaged by cam.I I9 and a comparatively loose stitch formed. The needles may be arranged in any other desired manner, however. For example, two high butt needles may be placed together, and two low butt needles placed together; in this arrangement two comparatively loose stitches would be followed by two comparatively tight stitches.

Both of the above classes of stitches may be adjusted as to tightness by turning the set screw 35. When the operator wishes to make all of the stitches tighter, he turns screw 35 to allow member 24 to descend to a lower position. Cams B will always descend to the lowest position allowed by screw 35 because of the action of spring 33.

If the operator wishes to adjust the tightness of only the' comparatively tight stitches, this may be done by loosening screws 20 and turning handle 21 in one or the other direction. 'If the stitches are to be made tighter, handle 21 is turned to raise pin 25; this causes pin 25 to move in slot 2B and raise cam I8. Cam I8, being itself raised, does notthen depress the low-butt needles to as great an extent 4and so forms tighter stitches with these needles, Jwhile cam. I 9, being unaltered in position, operates to depress the high butt needles as before to form stitches of the same degree of tightness as before. Thus, the tightness of the comparatively tight stitches may be altered inl dependently of the looser stitches.

If the operator wishes to form stitches of all the same degree of tightness, he may turn handle 21 to movecams B to a position where edge 29 is ush with edge 30. When the machine is so adjusted, all needles are depressed equally, regardless of their butts, and uniform stitches are formed.4

After being depressed by cast o cams B, the butts of the needles are vguided by cams IS and i 1 to` their upper positions, and are then caused to descend into contact with cams B. 'Ihe action of cams B'is similar to that of cams B, and the needles are again depressed to form a second course of stitches. Adjustment of the positions of cams B' may be made in ythe same way as described in connection with cams B, and this adjustment is effected altogether independently of and` uniform and the stitches in the following course be irregular, some stitches being tighter than others; and to accomplish this, cams B are adjusted to bring edge 29 even with edge 30and cams B' are adjusted to give the desired variation in the tightness of the stitches. An instance of this is the knitting of a product in which Lastexis knitted in4 even stitches, and cotton threads are knitted in tight and loose stitches, the cotton threads serving as a reinforcement for the Lastex.

While in the above description I have set forth a specific structure as illustrative of my invention, it will be understood that many changes in construction may be made without departing from the spirit of myinvention. The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, but the appended claims should be construed as broadly as per- .missible, in view of the prior art.

ond stitch cam adapted to depress said high butt needles to a different predetermined position, the drawingof said needles to said different positions serving to produce tight and loose stitches, and means for moving one of said cams relative to the other whereby each of Vsaid cams depress needles to the same position.

2. In a knitting machine, a plurality of stitchforming needles carried in avneedle bed, some of said needles having low butts and some having high butts, a stitch cam adapted toy depress said needles to a iirst predetermined position, and a second stitch cam adapted to depress said high butt needles vto a second predetermined position, the drawing of said 4needles to said 'dii'- ferent positions serving to produce tight and loose stitches, and means for adjusting said rstmentioned vcam relative to said second cam to change said first predetermined* position independently of said second predetermined position.

3. Ina knitting machine, a plurality of stitchforming needles carried in a needle bed, said needleshaving butts of different shapes, a stitch cam adapted to depress said needles to a rst predetermined position, and a second stitch cam adapted to depress some of saidneedles to a second predetermined position, the drawing of said needles to said different positions serving to produce tight and loose stitches, the needles to be depressed by said second cam being vdetermined by the shape of their butts.

4. Apparatus as set forth inclaim 3, in which said cams are urged into depressing position by spring means.

5. In a .knitting machine, a plurality of needles carried in a needle bed, cam means for depressing said `needles equally to a predetermined position to form one course of stitches and a second cam means for'depressing said needles to form another course of stitches, said' second cam means being effective without adjustment within the course to depress some of said needles to one position and others to a diierent position whereby some o! said stitches in said other course are tighter than others in the same course. i

6. In a.' knitting machine, a. plurality of needies carried in a needle bed, cam means for depressing said needles to predetermined positions to form one course of stitches, said means being effective without adjustment within the course to depress certain of said needles to deeper posi-` tions than others; and a lsecond cam eans for depressing said needles tojiform another course of stitches, said second'imeans being effective without adjustment within the course to depress i CARL F. SCHUESSLER. 

